"LL" 2000-2009 Marriage

LLOYD m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-01-29 published
Lori Lynn MASON and James
EMBELTON -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM,
Saturday,January 29, 2005 - Page M4
Like many young Australians, James John
EMBELTON went on a "walkabout"
after graduating from university. The rite of passage is almost
a national tradition, says Mr.
EMBELTON, who graduated from Monash
University in Melbourne in 1994.
"It's encouraged that graduates put a pack on their back, buy
a one-way ticket, and see the world," he says. "I thought I'd
stop [in Toronto], get a job for a year, and see what I thought."
That was more than 10 years ago. "I made Friends," he says, "did
well career-wise, and started to love the place."
Within a few years of his arrival, he became a Canadian citizen
and began working in financial services. He succumbed to the
opiate of Muskoka winters, highlighted by an annual weekend at
a rustic retreat near Gravenhurst, Ontario, owned by his friend
Craig MARSHALL.
It was in this serene environment that Mr.
EMBELTON staged a
surprise proposal to Toronto native Lori Lynn
MASON that reflected
the international nature of their relationship.
The two had met at
AICMutualFunds, where they were working
in sales, in February of 2001. Each was in another relationship
at the time, but their water-cooler musings heated up into romance
by 2003. "Lori has an incredible smile and beauty. We are both
motivated and caring," he says.
"Many women go gaga over him, but the accent wasn't a draw,"
says Ms. MASON, a business graduate of Mohawk College in Hamilton.
"He is kind and intelligent."
Mr. EMBELTON made his move in March, 2004, after some stealthy
manoeuvring. The pair had planned to make the annual trip to
Mr. MARSHALL's place in Muskoka, but at the last minute, Mr.
EMBELTON told Ms.
MASON to go ahead on her own, saying he needed
to study for his financial-analyst exam. In fact, he was taking
care of some last-minute engagement details.
Things almost went awry, Mr.
MARSHALL recalls. "James was travelling
on business and left me his package to bring up to the camp.
I picked up flowers for him, but in my rush, because I was entertaining
the whole group, I got halfway and realized, 'Oh my God!' I'd
left it."
The package was critical to Mr.
EMBELTON's plans, so Mr.
MARSHALL
pulled a few strings to get it: "Fortunately, my ex-wife lives
next door [to me]," he says with a laugh, "is a good friend,
and likes James and Lori, so she hired a locksmith to break into
my house so James could swing by for his stuff."
The next morning, Mr.
EMBELTON rushed to Muskoka to rendezvous
with two confederates who helped him set the scene. "It was beautiful,
near zero, not a cloud in the sky and we set up a blanket on
a snow-covered hill where Lori and I had spent time before,"
he says.
To paraphrase Jimmy Kennedy's lyrics to The Teddy Bears' Picnic,
Ms. MASON "went into the woods that day, and she was sure of
a big surprise." Mr.
EMBELTON whisked Ms.
MASON off by snowmobile
to the secluded proposal spot, where the contents of the package
were laid out against a backdrop of white pines: champagne flutes
and a toy koala and polar bear teddy holding Australian and Canadian
flags, respectively.
"I felt we were destined to be together," Ms.
MASON says. "I
was very emotional."
On September 5, Canadian and Australian flag bearers planted
their standards on either side of the altar at All Saints Anglican
Church in Etobicoke, where the bride taught Sunday school.
A design of a maple leaf and Australian gum leaf, their stalks
intertwined, appeared on the invitations and in all facets of
the wedding.
Ms. MASON, 30, entered on her father's arm to strains of Waltzing
Matilda and O Canada. A bouquet on the altar honoured her late
mother.
Close friend Reverend Timothy
FOLEY, youth director Susan
OLIVER
and assistant priest Michael
LLOYD incorporated a full Eucharist
service into the ceremony. Mr.
MARSHALL serenaded the audience
on guitar as the couple signed the register.
The bridegroom, 32, was a national champion in yachting, and
fittingly, the reception was held at the Boulevard Club. The
bridal party entered to Australia's rousing football song with
the newlyweds making their debut to the Hockey Night in Canada
theme.
The 130 guests included 25 from abroad, whom the groom calculated
logged a total of 270,000 kilometres to be there.
The newlyweds are now off for a two-year stint in Australia,
where Mr. EMBELTON has accepted an associate director position
at Macquarie Bank.
"It is more than a geographical change," says his bride, who
looks forward to taking on new challenges there, including volunteer
work caring for infants born with cocaine addiction.
"In Australia, I won't have the commitments I have here, so I'll
have the time."